Bandages
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As with all surgical specialties, gynaecologists may employ medical or surgical therapies (or many times, both), depending on the exact nature of the problem that they are treating. Pre- and post-operative medical management will often employ many "standard" drug therapies, such as antibiotics, diuretics, anti hypertensives, and antiemetics. Additionally, gynecologists make frequent use of "specialized" hormone-modulating therapies (such as Clomifene citrate and hormonal contraception) to treat disorders of the female genital tract that are responsive to pituitary and/or gonadal signals.
Surgery, however, is the mainstay of gynecological therapy. For historical and political reasons, gynecologists were previously not considered "surgeons", although this point has always been the source of some controversy. Modern advancements in both general surgery and gynecology, however, have blurred many of the once rigid lines of distinction. The rise of sub-specialties within gynecology which are primarily surgical in nature (for example urogynecology and gynecological oncology) have strengthened the reputations of gynecologists as surgical practitioners, and many surgeons and surgical societies have come to view gynecologists as comrades of sorts. As proof of this changing attitude, gynecologists are now eligible for fellowship in both the American and Royal Colleges of Surgeons, and many newer surgical textbooks include chapters on (at least basic) gynecological surgery.
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